Four Remote Work Best Practices To Build A High-Performance Culture

Leela Gill is a thought leader and VP of Marketing for Intelligence Node, with 15+ years of experience in Retail, FinTech and HR Tech.

Working from home is the “new normal,” and remote work is likely here to stay for many large businesses.

For example, in May 2020, Twitter announced that its employees can continue to work remotely indefinitely. And in a recent Gartner Inc. survey of chief financial officers, 74% reported they expect some of their employees will keep working remotely after the crisis ends.

So, as we reorganize our work processes for remote teams, we can use the opportunity to build a better team. Here are four principles you can apply to build a high-performance culture.

1. Be transparent about goals, processes and results.

We know that crisis is emotional but we may forget the human impact. People may not be producing at their typical levels of either volume or quality for a variety of reasons including adapting to new work norms or accommodating family schedules. As marketing leaders, we can remind ourselves and our bosses that gratitude and inspiration are expressions that will payout dividends now and in the future. And frequent communication is critical. When contacting employees, customers, or the general public, a leader’s voice is more important than ever. You can’t post the same messages at the same frequency as if nothing is happening. Nor should we hide or be silent. Now is the time to emotionally connect and communicate more with your employees, customers and your pipeline.

Traditionally, executives set annual and quarterly objectives and key results, and translate them into goals for managers. At best, these goals were reviewed every 90 days with employees. But working remotely has forced many of us to bring a more deliberate focus to measuring productivity.

I have found that higher performance can be achieved with small, simple techniques. Tools and procedures, like sharing key performance indicator (KPI) documents and using collaborative project management software, are perfect supplements to group meetings and can align your team to drive higher performance.

As an example, I set up a shared document for my team, with quarterly department goals and metrics. Within this group document, each team member has their own worksheet with their specific goals, metrics, projects and accomplishments. The items in these worksheets are hyperlinked directly to the document outlining department goals and revenue objectives.

Because the whole team works within the same document, each member can see what everybody else is doing and how their own work fits. We spend one meeting a week reviewing the progress of every team member. Because we look at our goals every week, instead of every 90 days, we stay aligned and focused, building a high-performing culture.

2. Formalize collaboration, mentoring and orientation.

Now, while working remotely, almost every business I know is using Slack or a similar tool to enable the rapid communication ostensibly available in the office. As a best practice to drive higher performance, especially for global teams, make sure to establish overlapping work hours with your direct reports so you can have synchronous interactions outside of meetings that deliver faster, clearer decision-making.

In addition, relying on these communication tools presents an opportunity to deliberately incorporate more effective collaboration and business norms. For example, if you never formalized your mentor program, now is the time to put it into action. Schedule mentoring meetings between your employees and ask them to let you know how these meetings are going. What does your new hire onboarding process look like while working remotely? Make sure new hires are paired up, have one-to-one channels with mentors and get special attention as they get started with your company.

For high-performing team collaboration, adopt the daily standup meeting to help everyone align on work priorities. This technique is common practice for engineering teams, but not so much in other departments. What we found when we started holding daily morning standups was that it became a great way to not only make sure we all stay on track but to fight the isolation of working from home. People connected more, and communication was frequent.

3. Pay attention to both the quality and the quantity of communication.

Many teams are finding alternatives to the spontaneous morning coffee runs, the midday water cooler talk and the after-office happy hours with online activities like trivia games and performing art Zoom calls. These are great techniques to build a high-performance culture. In addition, you also need to create social-distancing versions of the regularly scheduled one-to-one, the team meeting and the all-hands meetings. (Don’t have those? Now is a great time to start.)

Monthly all-hands meetings with the CEO and leadership team can increase the sense of a shared purpose. In my company, the CEO gives a report on the company’s growth, discusses upcoming important programs and then opens it up for questions. Employees can submit questions anonymously for this town hall-style segment, and I find that they appreciate the candor of the answers.

Working remotely underscores the importance of supporting your team and staying positive, which can drive higher team performance. At least once a week, find time to acknowledge your team members and post photos on your Slack pages about successes. Though you might not have done this before, find fun ways to celebrate and reward people with tokens of appreciation, like coffee coupons or e-gift cards. I bet you will see your team productivity increase significantly.

4. Manage your personal time and energy.

Working from home presents an opportunity to create the optimal rhythm for you. This can help you become happier as well as more productive. At home, you can discover solitude to focus, which might have been harder to do in the office. Take advantage of that!

Schedule time on your calendar every morning to review the top three things you need to get done for the day. Make it a habit. And take the time to go for a walk at lunch. Create rituals that keep you healthy both mentally and physically.

Establish start and stop times. Separate your workspace from family space, and physically leave your workspace at the stop time. Encourage your team to pick up these habits, too, in order to perform at a higher level.

Properly managing remote work can help you create a lasting high-performance culture.

When in the office, many managers take for granted that merely being physically present with people creates culture. This has never really been the case. To build a high-performance culture, make the effort to unify your team around a shared purpose and the pursuit of transparent goals. Let a little more fun and personality into the business environment. Finally, practice and encourage self-care and healthy work-life balance. Those practices can help you create a better team, whether or not you return to your physical office.